Javi’s long-term absence

FCB mull cover for ‘special’ Martínez

Created on 16-08-2014 at 13:45 PM

The biggest shock of the week at FC Bayern was the shattering news that Javi Martínez will not play again this calendar year after the Spain international ruptured a cruciate ligament in the Supercup meeting with Borussia Dortmund. “It’s just a great shame,” said Pep Guardiola at Saturday’s press conference prior to the DFB Cup meeting with Preußen Münster, “we’ll miss him. He was running into outstanding form after the summer break.”

The coach said he had lost a “special player” for a minimum of the next six months. Martínez had a fundamental role in Guardiola’s plans for the campaign, “because we have a variety of tactical options with him in the team”. The long-term absence of the former Bilbao man means Jérôme Boateng is the club’s only right-sided centre-back – and that, thinks Guardiola, is not sufficient. “We’ll never get through a whole season only with Jérôme.”

The club’s squad planning for the first half of the season was basically complete before the fateful meeting with Dortmund, but FCB will now monitor the transfer market again, Guardiola announced. The coach has already consulted Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Matthias Sammer and Michael Reschke. “We’ll see what we can do, but we only have a few days to do it,” he remarked. This summer’s transfer window shuts on 1 September.